Shared from the 4/25/2021 New Haven Register eEdition

‘We want to celebrate everyone’

UNH kitchen a welcome place for refugee

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Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

Former Syrian refugee Hala Ghali prepares cups of chocolate pudding at the University of New Haven on Wednesday.

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Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media

Former Syrian refugee Hala Ghali, left, with Sodexo General Manager Juan Sebastian Greene Dominguez at the University of New Haven on Wednesday.

WEST HAVEN — Hala Ghali, who learned to make baklava so well in her native Syria, is making pudding now, too.

American desserts such as chocolate pudding and bread pudding may be new to Ghali, a refugee who now works for Sodexo at the University of New Haven. But making them is one way she is contributing to her new home.

Ghali recently has been joined by three other women who arrived in this country under duress, all fellows at Havenly Treats, which has been supporting refugee and immigrant women to become self-sufficient and active members of their communities since 2018.

“It’s very good work here and I like it so much. Juan is a very good boss,” Ghali said, with translation help from Havenly Treats co-founder and Executive Director Caterina Passoni.

“I’m really happy with Havenly and I really appreciate the organization,” she said. “They helped me a lot. They gave me a certificate and they got me a job that is appropriate and that is dignified. I really love my work here. I don’t want to leave it.”

Juan Sebastian Greene Dominguez is general manager for Sodexo at UNH, and has helped the women not only to bake American desserts, including cookies and brownies, but to feel confident and comfortable in their new country.

“They came to the university to offer their desserts and baklavas and so on … for the university to buy them. I was invited to the meeting and they described what the program was,” Greene Dominguez said.

Rather than buy the baklava, Greene Dominguez hired Ghali, who arrived in the United States in 2016 and started working for Sodexo in November 2019. “Her English was very limited, so we were holding hands with her on all aspects,” he said. “It was all new to all of us.”

As Ghali learned English and grew more comfortable, Ghali became “the ambassador of the program with us,” helping the other women as they come on board, Greene Dominguez said.

“Now we have four of them working for us,” he said. “They don’t have any rush. Not just on [learning] how to bake but how do they become better citizens. I think we have accomplished all of the goals.”

The women are more comfortable in the kitchen than they are interacting with students and staff, such as at the grill, Greene Dominguez said, largely because of their lack of fluency in English. So they specialize in desserts.

“Now they are making bread pudding one week and they are making baklava the next week. We are mixing up the customs as well,” he said.

“I can’t really talk to them very much,” Ghali said. “I work in the back of the kitchen, not in the front right now.”

While UNH is a starting point, “The whole idea is for them to be able to go and work elsewhere,” Greene Dominguez said. “We would like to make them ready to go wherever they want.”

The program is good for the others at Sodexo and UNH as well, he said. “What we have learned is to appreciate the women in all aspects of life. … We haven’t been exposed to different nationalities and accents, so it’s been really good for management.”

Camila Guiza-Chavez directs the six-month-long fellowship that helps the women set a course for a career, whether they are refugees, migrants on special visas, new citizens or migrants who entered the U.S. without permission.

“A core objective of our program is to allow our women to access the next longterm opportunity after the fellowship,” she said.

She said the program is “going very well, especially because we’ve just seen so much commitment from Juan Dominguez and UNH to create a more inclusive environment.” Ghali now has “an actual role with Sodexo at UNH as an ambassador,” Guiza-Chavez said. “She’s helped train women who have started after her.”

Nieda Abbas, head chef, trainer and co-founder of Havenly Treats, said that with Sodexo at UNH, “we found an employment site that is very appropriate.” She said not only are the wages good, but that it is a place where the women find respect and safety.

“We work with women in their 40s, primarily, and opportunities for them are very, very limited in America. Many of the women have a hijab and I’m very happy that the university accepts that and work with them if they are veiled.” She said Greene Dominguez “listens to them and not just employs them but also cares for them.”

Passoni said that, while in the midst of a pandemic, “It’s hard to be in the food business and a nonprofit right now. … We’ve been able to continue our work, which is wonderful.”

She said that of the six most recent graduates, five “have jobs or educational programs that they’re going into. … For them it’s the first working experience of their life advocating for yourself.”

Passoni said the women at UNH, who are Syrian and Sudanese, are paid $20 an hour. “The University of New Haven and Juan specifically are very, very supportive of our mission,” she said.

She said Ghali “really wants to start her own bakery one day, so is making her own treats in the bakery,” developing recipes. The partnership with Sodexo is “really tailored to the objectives of each woman in the program,” she said.

Ophelie Rowe-Allen, dean of students, said, “We are proud of our diversity and we want to celebrate everyone. … A university campus is a great opportunity.” She said UNH is part of the “fabric of our community, so supporting our local community is very important.”

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382

“It’s very good work here and I like it so much. Juan is a very good boss.”
Hala Ghali, a Syrian refugee who works for Sodexo at the University of New Haven

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